Australia’s peak Aboriginal health group, representing hundreds of medical services across the country, has urged leaders at Tuesday’s vaccine strategy “war game” meeting to prioritise Aboriginal remote communities.
Pat Turner, CEO of the national Aboriginal community controlled health organisations (Naccho) said Naccho has not been included in the meeting, but she hoped Operation Covid Shield would “consult with us about what’s needed in remote areas”.
“Remote areas are a very serious and special consideration, and I hope that’s given the priority that’s required. And if in any doubt, they should definitely consult with the [Aboriginal] advisory committee that’s been meeting since March last year,” Turner said.
“All of our people from age 16 up, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, are in the priority group. So we expect to get our fair share, to ensure that priority is reflected in the rollout.”
Three weeks ago, Lt Gen John Frewen was appointed to head Operation Covid Shield, the federal government’s revamped vaccine rollout strategy.
Frewen was due to convene the first meeting of state and territory leaders in that operation on Tuesday.
“We will be joining together to conduct what I call a war game, many of you may know as a scenario planning exercise,” Frewen told the media at Parliament House on Friday. “Many of the jurisdictions have very different requirements, many have remote areas, many have particular challenges that we will work with them to understand.”
Turner said the Aboriginal health sector was working hard to overcome “dangerous and irresponsible” misinformation circulating in communities, and confusion over the government’s own messaging about which vaccines were safe to take.
“I think the confusion that all Australians felt in the last few weeks over the changing advice, and the arguments between jurisdictions like Queensland and the commonwealth, has not helped,” Turner said. “Aboriginal people hear that, just the same as any other Australians, and they get confused. The blow-up in the last few weeks certainly didn’t help. It confused people even more and frightened them.
“What we’re saying to people is: if you want to get the facts, speak to the doctors at the health services. Go to your health service and speak to the experts. The most important thing for our people to do is to get fully vaccinated.”
In the wake of last week’s lockdowns in Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, Aboriginal community controlled health organisations have ramped up vaccination efforts.
The Mala’la clinic at Maningrida in Arnhem Land has vaccinated more than 750 people since Friday. More than 450 people were vaccinated on Sunday alone, which the clinic says is the most vaccines given in one day by any vaccination hub in the Northern Territory. Maningrida has a population of about 2,308.
“I think that our health services have been doing as much as they can to get the vaccine out with the supplies that they’ve had available,” Turner said.
On Monday, the NT reached a key milestone in its vaccine rollout with more than 100,000 doses administered.
In a statement, the government said 16.4% of Territorians were now fully vaccinated, compared to the national average at 8.4%.
